Facebook has restyled the like button

This change of button design is just a part of Facebook’s overall redesign of their social plugin buttons.

If one surfs the internet these days, it is almost impossible to ignore Facebook’s like button, which has spread across millions of websites globally. Just like Facebook, this like button is also evolving, as Facebook has launched a remodeled version of the button.

This redesign was announced by the company yesterday via blog post, and features a thumbs-up icon instead of the traditional Facebook logo on the like button. According to Facebook, the hypothesis behind the redesign is that more people will recognise and associate the thumbs-up icon with the like button. Furthermore, Facebook reveals that after running tests to compare the new and old buttons, results showed a six percent increase in likes with the new design.

This change of button is just a part of Facebook’s overall redesign of their social plugin buttons. Another major update is the change in button size, done specifically to receive more likes from mobile users. When the original buttons were released, mobile phones had not been perfected, and hence mobile internet users were low.

Now, with 30 percent of likes coming from mobile users, it is only logical to have a separate size of buttons, making it easier to like and share using our smart phones. Facebook is also integrating buttons for liking, commenting and sharing to its instant articles format.

Facebook have also added new icons for recommending, following and saving articles to read later. These moves show the strategy Facebook is trying to pursue. Instead of solely making improvements to their own site to gain more traffic, they are now trying to improve the integration of Facebook with other sites so that users eventually will be led back to Facebook.

It is too soon to decide whether this design change will be a hit or miss, or if whether people will actively notice the change. We will have to decide by the number of likes.

The article originally appeared on Facebook for Developers